Four pigeons had discrimination training that required the choice of a left side-key following completion of a fixed-ratio 10 an the center key, and a right side-key response after fixed-ratio 20. Correct choices were reinforced on various fixed-interval, fixed-ratio, random-interval, and random-ratio schedules. When accuracy was examined across quarters of intervals (fixed-interval schedules) or quarters of median interreinforcerrent intervals (fixed-ratio schedules), accuracy was usually laver in the second quarter than in the first, third, or fourth quarters. When accuracy was examined across quarters of ratios (fixed-ratio schedules) or quarters of median number of correct interreinforcement trials (fixed-interval schedules), accuracy increased across quarters. These accuracy patterns did not occur m random-interval or random-ratio schedules. The results indicate that, when choice patterns differed on fixed-interval and fixed-ratio schedules, these differences were due to the methods of data analyses.

There is disagreement among clicker trainers on whether or not food should be delivered every time the clicker (conditioned reinforcer) is used. However, presenting a conditioned reinforcer without food can weaken the strength of the conditioned reinforcer and also disrupt its discriminative stimulus function. A within subjects reversal design was used with 2 dogs to compare the behavioral effects of continuous pairings (C+F condition) vs. intermittent pairings (C+C+F condition) of the clicker with food. Results show that the C+C+F condition affects the frequency, accuracy, topography, and intensity of the behavior, and increases noncompliance and other unwanted behaviors. This study adds to the literature by evaluating the effects of conditioned reinforcement in an applied setting using discrete trials without undergoing extinction.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2180.pdf: 923936 bytes, checksum: 8c877a2bc70bc866deb865883e5ade93 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-25 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The present proposal is based on the assumption that verbal responding is operant behavior established and maintained by reinforcement contingencies, and that this behavior can be analysed as a dependent variable. Recent research about say-do correspondence have used the educational context to investigate conditions able to guarantee corresponding reports of errors and correct responses about academical activities. The present study investigated the influence of a history of school failure and task difficulty on self-report of two groups of children about their reading performance, as well the effects of reinforcement schedules on the establishment and maintenance of accurate reports. Four children with history of school failure and four children without such history, all of them attending Fundamental Education, participated. Doing consisted in reading aloud a written word presented on the computer s screen and Saying in reporting if the reading was correct or not. The experiment began with a General Pretest that evaluated the participants reading repertoire, followed by baseline sessions that verified frequency of corresponding reports as a function of increasing probability of errors in a session (10, 25, 50 e 70%). On the next phase, correspondence training sessions, in which corresponding reports were reinforced continuously and later intermittently (variable ratio), were conducted. Finally, a baseline return was conducted to evaluate if the previously trained conditions were sufficient to promote accurate self-report maintenance. Points exchangeable for gifts were used as consequences. There were no pronounced differences on the average of corresponding reports of errors or correct responses between the two groups during the first baseline, along the different error probabilities programmed (except during 50% error probability). On the other hand, most non-corresponding reports of error occurred when the programmed error probability was about 50% for the children with history of school failure and about 25% for those without such history. The correspondence training was effective to produce corresponding reports for all participants. The high correspondence level was maintained during the intermittent reinforcement phase as well during the subsequent extinction condition. Error frequency seemed to be a relevant variable for self-report accuracy for all children on this study, independently of the presence or absence of history of school failure and of the increasing levels of task difficulty. The intermittent reinforcement training was effective to maintain corresponding reports of errors and correct responses during subsequent conditions in which no consequences for responding were programmed. / A presente proposta apóia-se na suposição de que o responder verbal é um comportamento operante estabelecido e mantido por contingências de reforçamento, podendo ser analisado como variável dependente. Pesquisas recentes sobre correspondência fazer-dizer têm utilizado o contexto educacional para investigar condições capazes de garantir relatos correspondentes de acerto e erro em atividades acadêmicas. O presente estudo investigou a influência da história de fracasso escolar e da dificuldade da atividade sobre o auto-relato de dois grupos de crianças sobre seus desempenhos em leitura, bem como o efeito de esquemas de reforço sobre o estabelecimento e a manutenção de relatos acurados. Participaram deste estudo quatro crianças com história de fracasso escolar e quatro crianças sem história de fracasso escolar, todas do Ensino Fundamental. Fazer consistiu em ler em voz alta uma palavra escrita no computador e Dizer em relatar se a leitura foi ou não correta. O experimento foi iniciado com um pré-teste geral que avaliou o repertório de leitura dos participantes, seguido por sessões de linha de base que verificaram a freqüência dos relatos correspondentes em função da probabilidade de erro crescente ao longo das sessões (10, 25, 50 e 70%). Na fase seguinte, foram realizadas sessões de treino de correspondência, em que os relatos correspondentes foram reforçados, primeiramente de forma contínua e, num segundo momento, de forma intermitente (razão variável). Por fim, houve o retorno à linha de base, que avaliou se as condições anteriores de treino foram suficientes para promover a manutenção de auto-relatos acurados. Como conseqüências foram utilizados pontos trocáveis por brindes. Não houve diferenças acentuadas entre as médias de relatos correspondentes de acertos e erros para os dois grupos, durante a linha de base inicial, nas diferentes faixas de probabilidade de erro (apenas na faixa de 50%). No entanto, a maior freqüência de relatos não-correspondentes de erro ocorreu quando a probabilidade de erro programada era de 50% para as crianças com fracasso escolar e de 25% para as crianças sem fracasso escolar. O treino de correspondência produziu relatos correspondentes para todos os participantes. O nível elevado de correspondência foi mantido tanto na fase de reforçamento intermitente quanto na condição subseqüente de extinção. O erro pareceu ser variável relevante para a acurácia do relato de leitura de todas as crianças, independentemente da presença ou ausência de histórico de fracasso escolar e do aumento da dificuldade da tarefa. O treino com reforçamento intermitente mostrou-se eficaz na manutenção de relatos correspondentes de acertos e erros em situações subsequentes, em que nenhuma conseqüência foi programada para o responder.